Czy muzea martyrologiczne potrzebują marketingu?
Monuments of martyrology: Do they need marketing?

Summary/Abstract: Martyrological museums form a specific group within Polish historical museums. These museums not only collect historical artefacts specific for them but also deal with important and hard to understand matters of human beings, such as death, genocide, Holocaust, and the dark part of human nature. This article presents aspects of these difficult matters and their influence on the marketing activities of these institutions. For this purpose, the condition of Polish museums with emphasis on martyrological museums is described, as well as the history of Polish museology before, during and after World War II. The article presents the technical and ideological development of martyrological museums, with regard to the relevant legislation. It shows the difficult situation of Polish museums after WWII and its great influence on Polish culture and civilisation. Taking into account the present-day development of technology and the needs of modern society, it describes the most popular forms of marketing in cultural institutions. On this basis, the marketing strategies of martyrological museums are analysed. The analysis shows that the life and emotional testimonies of former victims and torturers make these marketing forms inappropriate and – in fact – useless. A solution could be to present these difficult issues through art, both in traditional forms, e.g. by presenting drawings made in camps by former victims, and in modern ways, such as movies or comics.

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